This dynamic, innovative, evolving and open platform will publish contributions connected to the AHRC/British Library project, The Academic Book of the Future, which has been investigating key aspects of scholarly publishing for the last two years, led by a team of academics from UCL and Kings College London. The platform, which presents the content in the form of a BOOC (Books as Open Online Content), will grow during 2016 as more content is created, and will allow different ways to explore and share the ideas and discussions.

Authors from all areas of the academic, publishing, bookselling and library communities discuss aspects of scholarly books and their possible futures: for example, the role of the editor, peer review, academic bookshops and libraries, open access, digital publishing and technology. The content – in a range of peer-reviewed formats including videos, blogs, chapters and reports – presents a fascinating variety of insights into the constantly evolving contexts of the academic book and will be of interest to anyone working in the HE sector and the publishing industry, and, indeed, to anyone interested in how ideas are disseminated to a wider general audience.

Rebecca Lyons is a Teaching Associate at the University of Bristol. Between 2015 and 2017, she was a Research Associate on the AHRC/ British Library Academic Book of the Future Project.

Samantha J. Rayner is Director, Centre for Publishing, and Reader in Publishing at UCL. She was Principal Investigator on the AHRC/British Library Academic Book of the Future Project.